{"id":183188,"date":"2026-03-21T13:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/grandstand-finally-opens-as-chargers-tip-off-new-season\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T18:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:26:17","slug":"grandstand-finally-opens-as-chargers-tip-off-new-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/grandstand-finally-opens-as-chargers-tip-off-new-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandstand finally opens as Chargers tip off new season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Surfcoast Basketball Association (SBA) unveiled its new retractable grandstand at Wurdi Baierr Stadium on Saturday, bringing a long-awaited upgrade into play.<\/p>\n<p>It comes as the Chargers launch its Big V youth league and senior championship seasons.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"386\" data-end=\"586\">The 540-seat structure, backed by $500,000 in federal government funding, arrives after a series of setbacks delayed its use throughout the 2025 season.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_183195\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-183195\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-183195 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-768x1024.jpg?_t=1774077846\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-53-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-183195\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It comes as the Chargers launch its Big V youth league and senior championship seasons. Photo: Bec Lewis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"588\" data-end=\"862\">Construction was initially completed last year, but the seating could not be used after aisle widths were found to be non-compliant with Australian Standards, requiring a redesign that reduced capacity and introduced additional safety measures, including emergency lighting.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"864\" data-end=\"1063\">Further delays followed due to supply constraints, with the specialised lighting needing to be ordered, leaving the structure sidelined for key events including the Big V finals and junior presentations.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1065\" data-end=\"1209\">Now fully compliant and cleared for use, the grandstand was opened to the community ahead of the Chargers\u2019 youth league girls\u2019 clash with Wallan.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1211\" data-end=\"1337\">SBA president Leon Sayers said the addition would immediately transform both the logistics and atmosphere of game day.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1339\" data-end=\"1414\">\u201cWe can finally let the community come and support us in numbers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1416\" data-end=\"1638\">\u201cThere were quite a few games towards the end of last season where we were struggling to find seats for people, so being able to have the capacity to give the community an opportunity to watch the Chargers play is massive.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1640\" data-end=\"1726\">\u201cIt\u2019s also a much better viewing as well, compared to the seat that we\u2019ve currently ben using.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1728\" data-end=\"1838\">Sayers said the increased capacity had the potential to significantly lift the environment inside the stadium.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1840\" data-end=\"1981\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to fill [the seats], but if we can have 540 people sitting in the grandstands, the atmosphere in court one area will be absolutely amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had the luxury of going and watching some other games where stadiums have got similar size crowd numbers and the atmosphere is just totally different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving the viewing opportunity for everyone to be able to see the game better, but also having that volume increase with the crowd numbers, the sound will just be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_183197\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-183197\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-183197 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-1024x768.jpg?_t=1774077886\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-design-52-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-183197\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chargers will open their 2026 campaign with youth league girls and boys matches, before the senior women and men take to the court later in the day. Photo: Bec Lewis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Beyond basketball, the retractable design is expected to broaden the venue\u2019s use across the Surf Coast, allowing for greater flexibility in hosting events and accommodating other sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be pretty big. We\u2019ve got some plans already for later this year that will be announced soon,&#8221; Sayers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just about what the Chargers will be able to do with the seating. The rest of the community is going to be able to use them as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Chargers will open their 2026 campaign with youth league girls and boys matches, before the senior women and men take to the court later in the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Surfcoast Basketball Association (SBA) unveiled its new retractable grandstand at Wurdi Baierr Stadium on Saturday, bringing a long-awaited upgrade into play. It comes as the Chargers launch its Big V youth league and senior championship seasons. The 540-seat structure, backed by $500,000 in federal government funding, arrives after a series of setbacks delayed its [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/grandstand-finally-opens-as-chargers-tip-off-new-season\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":183189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-183188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grandstand finally opens as Chargers tip off new season - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surfcoast Basketball Association unveils new 540-seat retractable stand at Wurdi Baierr Stadium ahead of Big V season launch.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/grandstand-finally-opens-as-chargers-tip-off-new-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grandstand finally opens as Chargers tip off new season - 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